When we think about fielding, the first thing that comes to mind is aerobatics. These are visuals of players who can take stunning catches or stop impossible balls.
When making a list of individuals who possess such talent, Rinku Singh’s name might not come to mind. However, he has been one of the best fielders in the modern era of IPL.
In just 61 IPL matches, he has the most outfield catches (41) for the Kolkata Knight Riders. The next two players on the list have played significantly more games than Rinku.
Rinku’s catches per innings ratio (0.683) is second only to AB de Villiers when talking about players with 20 outfield catches.
Best catches/innings ratio in the IPL
Player Inns Catches Catches/innings AB de Villiers 130 90 0.692 Rinku Singh 60 41 0.683 Tilak Varma 55 34 0.618 Herschelle Gibbs 36 22 0.611 Marco Jansen 36 22 0.611
Rinku’s prowess is not restricted to only IPL. Even in the international matches, he has a good catches per innings ratio.
Only 119 players in international cricket have taken at least 30 catches. Even in internationals, Rinku is second (0.84 catches per innings) only to Ab de Villiers.
Since the start of IPL 2022, no one has taken more catches than Rinku Singh (36). These catches came at a rate of 0.7 per innings. This is the best among the 52 players with a minimum of 15 catches.
One more stat that would baffle anybody is that Rinku has dropped only 1 catch since IPL 2022. It is the best among the players who’ve taken at least 20 catches. His catching efficiency is 97.3%. The one catch he dropped was in a low-scoring game in Mullanpur last year.
Best catching efficiency in the IPL since 2022
Player Mat Catches Dropped Catching efficiency (%) Rinku Singh 47 36 1 97.3 Phil Salt 35 29 1 96.66 Marco Jansen 34 21 1 95.4 KL Rahul 49 32 2 94.1 Shubman Gill 51 24 2 92.3
Rinku Singh has not only been providing his services in the field alone. In a T20I game against Afghanistan in Bengaluru in 2024, Rohit Sharma had retired himself out of the final ball of the super over to get Rinku on the crease. Rohit did that because Rinku is quick between the wickets.
You should also know that KKR has been the best team in terms of catching efficiency (82.1%) since IPL 2022. There is no doubt in my mind that this is due to one extraordinary individual named Rinku Singh.
